PATTY LARKIN - Acoustic Guitar
hails her “soundscape experiments.” Rolling Stone praises her “evocative sonic
shading.” She has been described as “riveting” (Chicago Tribune), “hypnotic”
(Entertainment Weekly) and a “drop-dead brilliant” performer (Performing
Songwriter).
Patty Larkin is part of the urban-folk/pop music phenomenon that spun off of the
singer/songwriter explosion of the seventies, reinterpreting traditional folk
melodies, rock, pop, bossa nova, drawing on anything from Dylan (Bob) to Dylan
(Thomas). A self described “guitar driven songwriter,” Larkin has wound her way
through soundscapes of evocative vocals, inventive guitar wizardry and
imaginative lyrics. Her songs run from impressionistic poetry to witty wordplay.
In 2010 Patty Larkin releases a collectible collection of 25 love songs in
celebration of 25 years in the recording industry. Here Patty has reworked 25 of
her favorite songs in an acoustic, “unplugged” release, joined by friends along
the way.
A follow up to her critically acclaimed WATCH THE SKY (Critics Choice-NY Times,
Brilliant-Billboard), “25” is a one of a kind project that is at once intimate
and universal, the voice of a generation of songwriters, simple and direct, yet
the touchstone of one woman’s song. Over her 25 year career, Patty Larkin has
worked with some of the brightest stars in American music, honing a reputation
as a “musician’s musician” along the way. On “25” Patty is joined by friends and
cohorts, troubadours, renegades, humorists, folk philosophers, dreamers,
realists, poets, bards. People who defined a generation of music that wove
inside and outside of the box, and sprang from a grassroots love of song,
pouring onto the airwaves in an organic, trickle down of musical styles.
This project evolved in much the same way, with Patty looking for a way to
celebrate the quarter of a century anniversary of her first album with some
friends. Each artist was contacted individually and asked to come on and sing
with Patty’s unplugged version of her most requested love songs. Some of the
artists were on the road during the recording time and found recording studios
wherever they landed, some were in the midst of new releases, some were in the
studio working on their own projects, and some were just plain busy with the
business of life. The fact that each of these gifted and talented artists found
the time and space to lend such beauty to this collection speaks to the pull of
friendship and music that has spanned the years.
Here is a moment, a pause, the snapshot of a career that continues to grow and
evolve along a creative, adventuresome path. Here’s to “25”, and 25 more.
PATTY’S ROOTS
Patty Larkin grew up in a musical and artistic family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Descended from a long line of Irish American singers and taletellers, her mother
was a painter, her sisters both musicians. She learned at a young age to
appreciate the beauty and magic of the arts. She began classical piano studies
at age 7, and became swept up in the sounds of pop and folk in the 60s, teaching
herself the guitar and experimenting with songwriting. An English major, Larkin
sang throughout her high school and college career, starting out in coffeehouses
in Oregon and San Francisco. Upon graduation, she moved to Boston and devoted
herself to music, busking on the streets of Cambridge and studying jazz guitar
at Berklee College of Music and with Boston area jazz guitarists.
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